A lot of Batch63 guys are celebrating their birthdays in March, (and thereabouts.) These March-born Batch63 guys (assembled by birthday coordinator Vince Misa shown in photo holding on to the cash contributions of the celebrants) who participated in the grand blowout today are Joe Assad, Ed Lim, Alex Ledesma, Arthur Antonino and Joey Ingles. Those who couldn’t make it to the party (due to important reasons) but nevertheless are pleased to participate in the blowout for the Batch are Jimmy Ortigas and Victor Sy. In behalf of the Batch then, happy birthday March celebrants, and here’s wishing you’al a meaningful and exciting year ahead.
Because of the excitement of seeing each other again (with free breakfast), this Grand Birthday event truly attracted a menagerie of all sorts of characters. The motley group of guys who came to grace the occasion consisted of Batch63 infamous personalities. The Dirty Dozen (including Ed Oleta and Tony Estonina) was there in force. Some of the Retarded (and semi-retarded) Old Guard (‘retired’ old guard?) seldom seen at the Kapihan came this time (Ned Bulatao, Boy Charles, Quito Moras, George Cunanan, etc). The Mad Scientists are also nice to see (Joey England for herbal and Bambi Goco for culinary). And then, there were the Eclectic Execs (notably Rafi Villareal, Polding Arnaiz, Boy Palanca, etc. on this day) in their crisp business attire (who managed to attend the Kapihan before trudging back to their respective salt mines).
And let's not forget the American Balikbayans. An unusually large group came this first quarter (for post Christmas holidays and DLS Homecoming). The locals were pleased to again see Tonichi Grey and Manolo Relova (Elvis and Frank Sinatra wannabes respectively) at the Kapihan. Victor Sy and Joey Zamora (still Section A nerds?) came in February, but stretching their stay up to the homecoming was too much to ask from them. In fairness, Victor Sy made at least a couple of Kapihans on this visit. Joey was escort to his wife and he needed to juggle his time between the Kapihan gang and his college buddies (DLS college 67 Ramon Mojica and Ben Umali) who treated him out at Shangrila Mall before he left for home.
The Willow Root conversation was so animated and clearly coming from all quarters. Hence, this Blog is hard-pressed to present the amusing shenanigans of the guys over the breakfast table. If it's any indication of the zest of the group, it was past Kapihan (breakfast) time but many were still seen enjoying their coffee and conversation. Since the Willow Root had to be prepared by the waiters for the lunch crowd, the group finally had to say goodbye to each other. But I spoke too early - with the incorrigible Tonichi in town, good time is never over. You guess it, from Willow Root the DD in the Batch headed for the Manila Polo Bar (at the top of the stairs) even after the others had left. Poor Ned B got himself trapped in the company of this DD group and where in true form, Tonichi gave him a hard time in the bar about being part of Section A. Ned whined that it's unfair to pressure Section A guys especially about possibly being 'underperforming assets' of the economy. To this Tonichi stammered: " Under . . what . . assets?" - clearly struggling with the five syllable word blurted out by the erstwhile La Sallian editor.
On a serious note here’s somber news. It was mentioned earlier that Jimmy O did not make the Grand Kapihan where he is a celebrant. We all know that Jimmy is a reliable supporter of Batch63 who can be counted on. Thus, it was unusual for him not to show up. Later, the reason for his default became clear when we received text news from Bert Saenz just this morning: Jimmy’s Dad, Don Arturo Ortigas passed away just recently. Don Arturo was an original exec of the Ortigas Company and was himself a La Salle prewar alum and sportsman. Jimmy was busy with the final day ritual preparation for the funeral of his father. Batch63 sincerely wish to condole with Jimmy and his family in his hour of grief.
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